Official April Newsletter!!!

James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Hi. The months of February and March were months of change for me. On March 15th I celebrated my sixth month anniversary of living in Asia.

The middle of February was the beginning of break from school (because of Chinese New Year) and so I got a much needed break from formal study. The city changed during Chinese New year to one that was full of people at all times to having empty streets. One day I literally counted 7 people on the street from my house to my friend’s home. Going back to school was a much needed but not wanted change of back to a routine. However, my routine was changed as well. (further questions about Chinese New Year can hopefully be answered below in a past blog post)

Because I have been here so long I needed to graduate to a higher level of schooling. The school I began to attend at the end of Feb is called Eastern Asia College of Language (EACL). My previous school was a very intimate program where I attended classes that comprised of only me and my teacher. I attended two semesters at that school and met some wonderful foreigners as well as had the joy and privilege of having the most patient, encouraging, and gentle teachers ever. Moving to EACL meant joining a classroom setting and not having the sole attention of the teacher to catch and correct you immediately, which has both pros and cons. The move to EACL was perpetuated by a number of factors.

One, I needed a student visa, my previous school is not licensed to give visas; and EACL is. Two, I want to learn to read and write characters. EACL has a curriculum that starts teaching characters from the beginning and is considered difficult; however since I have had two semesters of listening and speaking learning the characters now should be easier. My previous school only focused on being skilled in comprehension and verbal communication. Three, my previous school cost almost double the amount of EACL. So, my choice was straightforward. I needed to change schools. This one change gave rise to many other changes which have involved transportation, meal times, social obligations, and study techniques.

The weather here is changing from hazy cloudy chill every day to a brighter outlook on the day with a cool beginning and end to every day and in the middle becoming very warm. So, I pulled out all my short sleeve and skirts. I have gone shopping to add change to my wardrobe (Asianize it )and I will soon be entering a salon and changing my hair do. I had also, intended to make a change in my life that also included a pet of some sort, however this has not occurred as planned. I am contemplating if this change will occur now or if it is permanently not going to change.

The biggest change that I am experiencing is the fact that I really do belong here. I am beginning to feel like I am independent and knowledgeable about this city I live in. There is a couple in my EACL class who are from England who have only been here for a month and I have taken them under my wing and am determined to show them everything I know about Kunming.

The other big change is moving from pin ying (the Romanized pronunciation of Chinese characters) to reading characters. For instance I know how to write a little and can read some characters such as these ones: 我在学汉语。This sentence says: I am studying Chinese.

This is very exciting for me but it takes most of my brain space. So, If you could continue to talk to Father regarding my learning abilities, my rest to be good and sufficient, and that I would rely on Father’s strength rather than my own strength. Thank Him for me and for yourself that He never changes; that His faithfulness is constant unlike us and our ephemeralness.

I love you all and am thankful to Father for you, your desire to know what I am doing and the work He is doing in and through you.
Denise

Back to School!!

You know how in August or September there is a run on backpacks, pencils, lunch boxes, markers, notebooks, folders, and all things school related in the United States?? Well, in China there is a similar run but it occurs during Chinese New Year. Every store has tons of school supplies at this time. Walmart's entire office section was empty when I went to get something last weekend before school started on Feb 22.

My new school is nice. It isn't staffed with teachers who I cannot understand and the desks don't have the hardest chairs ever. So even though it isn't a terrible entity I am really going to miss my old school. I hope that I can have a good friendship with my teacher, Liu Wei Wei, as well as with my fellow students, Sarah, Nick, and David, but my classroom atmosphere is to learn not to befriend and sometimes I wonder if this will be a struggle for me.

I am learning characters now and I really like learning them, however, they make my hands cramp as well as my brain hurt in a different way than just learning to speak them. Tomorrow I have a dictation test. Where Liu laoshi speaks and I write what I hear in characters. I am very glad that I purchased those 888 most used Chinese character flash cards before I left the States.

Not much to say, but I wanted to all to know that I am still working hard and thinking of you all.

Chinese New Year!!

I have had many emails asking me why China celebrates a different New Year than the rest of the western world. I would love to explain this a little. China did celebrate Jan 1, 2010 with the rest of the world but ancient China used a lunisolar calendar. This means that the common calendar that you and I use is used today in China for day to day activities and scheduling but the traditional lunisolar calendar is used for traditional holidays and in astrology.

The lunisolar calender is when elements of the lunar calender is used with elements of the solar calender. So a lunar calender is based on the phases of the moon and usually doesn't follow any particular season. A solar calender is based on the position of the earth as it rotates around the sun, therefore usually indicating the seasons.

Therefore, in the solar calender Chinese New Year does not happen on the same day every year. But in the lunar calender it occurs on the 11th month (second new moon after the winter solstice.

The interesting thing is that when you go to a Chinese restaurant and they have the place mat with the Chinese animal year listed on it and for all these years you thought you were the year of the Monkey-you could be mistaken, because the year of the monkey started Feb 1980 to Jan of 1981. So if you were born in Jan of 1980 you are really the year of the Sheep. This year (Feb 14, 2010-Feb 3,2011) is the year of the Tiger. Last year (Jan 26, 2009-Feb 13, 2010)was the year of the Bull.

Mythology:
Legend is that a fearful beast Nien would visit the villages on the first day of the year and devour livestock and children. The villagers began putting out food and treats for the beast in the hope that it would leave their children and livestock alone after eating the prepared food. One day the beast was frightened away from a village by a small child wearing red. It was assumed that Nien was afraid of the color red. So, the people began to hang red lanterns and red decorations all around the village at this time of year. The people, strengthened by the red decorations, also began to use fireworks to scare the Nien away (perhaps representing gunfire).
Therefore, this holiday is sometimes called Lantern Festival or Spring Festival (Chun Jie) as well as The New Year.

Here in Kunming there are already fireworks on a nightly basis. School has been out since the end of Jan for the kids and the traffic is terrible due to the numbers of people coming to the city. The huge celebration really starts on the 13th of Feb this year and I was told not to go to any of the parks that night unless I want to have burned hair and clothes-due to the high numbers of fireworks that will be happening. (this really does make me want to go though-but we will see)

Starting on the 14th and for at least one week the city shuts down. No businesses will be open except the large dept stores. I was told to make sure to buy enough water and food prior to the 14th to last me a while. I am just glad to be on break from school myself and have plans to watch the fireworks in some way on the 13th and then my classmates and I will gather on the 14th for a good old Lord of the Rings Marathon.

For Amanda.

These rocks are part of a national park called Shilin (The Stone Forest). I went there a couple of weekends ago with two friends, Nathan and Shannon. It was amazing. Often I felt like I was on the set of a movie. I even tried to recreate the scene from The Lord of the Rings-Fellowship, where Gandolf is standing on the edge of the stone bridge and yells You shall not pass. I truly felt almost 30 while climbing in these rocks all day. But I look forward to sharing it with you when you come to see me.

Thousand Year Old Jell-O Jigglers!!

So this week in class I am learning about meat dishes. How to order them at the restaurant and how to buy it at the market. This led to eggs. I asked my teacher what were the eggs that were covered in mud at the market and she didn’t know….so my homework was to bring mud eggs to class. So I did. They are called song hua dan. Usually they are duck eggs prepared a certain way. Du lao shi (teacher Du) was unable to completely describe the process but she did know that the mud is specially made for the eggs and consists of salt at least. She said that the eggs are packed in the mud and then either put into a pot and put away for two months or are buried in the ground for two months. Then they are removed and sold at the market. One of my teammates said that they are was Westerners call the Thousand year old egg. Anyway, I have prepared some pictures so that you can see the process of opening one of these eggs and get to see the inside. I was brave and had one forth of one in class. It doesn’t taste bad. It tastes like a hardboiled egg. It was the jello like texture that really bothered me. Enjoy the slide show.

First Step!!

I bought four song hua dan so that I could display each step all at once. First you have to peal the egg, which mean you have to get all the mud and grain (?) off.

Second Step!!

Once all the shell is removed you get to see the speckled membrane.